Devin Townsend Project tour

[AlexanderWhitebeard]

Katatonia and Paradise Lost are as far as I'm concerned among the most un-fuck-withable bands in metal. I haven't really heard a bad album from each of them, and I always expect something quality from them. In fact, they are among the few bands I blindly buy from.

But that's just on recording. Live, they are among the worst live acts in all of music, let alone metal. So at least that's why I'm a bit weirded out.

What is it about them that sucks so bad live?

 

[Palabra de Dios]

I'd agree with the "Katatonia is boring live" jazz if I only judged them on their performance opening for Moonspell in Atlanta several years ago.

But I saw them last year with Opeth and they were possessed by heaviness. I thought they were incredible. And Jonas has one of the best voices in all of music, and it was in FINE FORM for them on that tour.

 

[nomisofsiman]

I think it depends on what you're looking for in terms of a live band. I can see why some people would call PL and Katatonia boring as they don't have the most energy on stage, but considering the brand of music they play, why would you expect them to play with high energy? I think for the type of music, they're fine and certainly not bad. They play their songs to perfection and that's honestly half the battle live.

 

[mandrake6]

Well, I am definitely going to be at the Chicago date, no matter if Katatonia and/or Paradise Lost are supposedly bad live. I saw PL open for Opeth years ago, and thought they were good but I felt a bunch of the true beauty of their music was missing live. But let's face it, the first part of the 2000's were not their best years on record either. But they have had a true resurgence with the last two records, especially with the new one, Tragic Idol. If this doesn't hit my top spot this year, I would be shocked. So far, it's beyond brilliant!

I'm with everyone else on not understanding why this tour package is weird. Two of the greatest doom/goth metal bands ever with the music genius of Devin...sounds like a brilliant package to me. It just sucks that it's at small 500-1000 capacity venues here in the U.S. In Europe, this package would be in arenas, and PL would be headlining the bill and selling out dates all over the place. Oh well, better for me to see them so close!!

 

[AlexanderWhitebeard]

I think it depends on what you're looking for in terms of a live band. I can see why some people would call PL and Katatonia boring as they don't have the most energy on stage, but considering the brand of music they play, why would you expect them to play with high energy? I think for the type of music, they're fine and certainly not bad. They play their songs to perfection and that's honestly half the battle live.

Well said. I saw Katatonia last year with Opeth, and I thought they were incredible. Definitely isn't the type of music you'd play while running around the stage Iron Maiden style. They performed flawlessly and captured the vibe of the music wonderfully. I don't know what else you could ask them to do.

 

[sh0kr0k]

I wasn't a very big PL fan until I saw them live! I thought they were great but felt bad that the Nightwish crowd didn't really get the Doom.

Katatonia live does bore me to death. I think there's a way to present your doomy music with enthusiasm and intensity, which I think bands like PL and Swallow the Sun can accomplish, but Katatonia just didn't bring it the time I saw them. I'll still give them another chance someday.

 

[nomisofsiman]

I wasn't a very big PL fan until/i] I saw them live! I thought they were great but felt bad that the Nightwish crowd didn't really get the Doom.

I saw that tour. It was an interesting pairing and like you said, too bad the majority of the fans, just couldn't get into it. Thing is too, they played for an hour.

 

[nomisofsiman]

Saw this show last night. Great show, but I really wish PL could've played longer, especially since the tour itself is partly named after their new album. Anywhoo, as for Katatonia, I gotta say they seemed like a completely different band than the last time I saw them at Reggies. Last time, I understood why some people found them boring, but this time they seemed to have a lot more energy and stage presence; only thing I can think of is that the bigger stage might have helped. Devin was Devin; he never puts on a bad show. I'm just disappointed I wasn't able to stay for the whole thing since I have to get up at 5 for work.

 

[kashford]

I saw them last Thursday in Lawrence, KS. I've been to a lot of shows, and honestly, this was probably in the top three of what I've seen. PL was great! Granted, most people were there for Katatonia and DT, so the crowd was meager. That said, they joked around and played with tons of passion... enough to break guitars!

Katatonia was great. The guitarists were all over the place, headbanging galore, you name it.

DT, as mentioned earlier, put on quite a show.

If anyone would like to see my pics, you can PM me and I'll link 'em to ya.